When the phone rang at Mae Smith’s home in Tyler, Texas, on Wednesday afternoon, she knew who it was and why he was calling. A mother knows.
The Bears had just hired her son, Lovie Smith, to become the 13th coach in franchise history, and one of the first things he did was call his 70-year-old mother to tell her a lifelong goal had been realized.
“Lovie just said, `Mother, I got it,’ and he sounded so excited,” Mae Smith said Wednesday night. “He is so proud to be the coach up there in Chicago, and we’re so proud of him. He’s always been such a hard worker and always kept up his hopes that this would happen.”
It finally happened for Smith, completing the circle from Big Sandy, Texas, population 1,288, to the big city, and from obscurity to celebrity.
Bears general manager Jerry Angelo selected Smith over Steelers offensive line coach Russ Grimm, opting for experience over uncertainty. Angelo and Smith worked together for five seasons in Tampa Bay when Angelo was the director of player personnel and Smith coached linebackers for head coach Tony Dungy.
Sources said that comfort level helped give Smith the edge, even though Grimm’s dazzling interview Monday made Angelo’s decision harder than he figured it would be.
Neither Angelo nor Smith commented on the hiring Wednesday night, as the Bears chose to wait until they introduce their new coach at a news conference Thursday afternoon at Halas Hall.
Smith, who will fly to Chicago on Thursday morning, received a four-year contract worth about $1.4 million annually.
His former boss, Rams coach Mike Martz, will miss the man he credits with turning his defense around after taking over as defensive coordinator three seasons ago.
In 2001, Smith transformed a defense that had given up 471 points a year earlier into the NFL’s third-toughest, allowing only 273 en route to the Super Bowl.
This season, Smith’s defense was ranked 16th–two spots lower than the Bears’–and floundered in the final two losses against Detroit and Carolina in the NFC playoffs.
“All the qualities that make him an exceptional coordinator also will make him an exceptional head coach with his leadership and knowledge of the game and his ability to communicate with the players,” Martz said in a statement.
“It’s a terrific opportunity for Lovie. I’m excited for Lovie and I’m excited for the Bears organization.”
The NFL will appreciate the Bears hiring an African-American in the league’s second-biggest market, significant progress in line with initiatives established in the last year. Smith becomes the NFL’s fifth African-American head coach and the second hired this off-season. The Cardinals signed Dennis Green last week.
The hiring ended an exhaustive, occasionally exasperating 16-day search to replace Dick Jauron. Angelo interviewed five NFL assistants and four college head coaches, with Louisiana State’s Nick Saban and California’s Jeff Tedford declining the Bears’ offers to continue talks.
That created an opportunity for Smith, and while it wasn’t Lovie at first sight, Bears officials privately hailed their choice Wednesday as a snug fit for a franchise badly needing change.
Smith plans to bring the attacking, cover-2 defensive scheme for which he is known to the Bears but surprisingly expects to gauge defensive coordinator Greg Blache’s interest in remaining the team’s defensive coordinator, sources said.
Blache, who also discussed the head-coaching position with Angelo, interviewed Wednesday for the Steelers’ defensive coordinator job and may have the option of going to Pittsburgh or staying in Chicago.
If Blache goes, Smith is likely to turn his attention to veteran Cardinals defensive coordinator Larry Marmie, who coached Smith when Smith was an All-America defensive back at Tulsa in the late 1970s and spent seven years in Arizona.
Offensively, league sources said Smith will ask Chiefs quarterbacks coach Terry Shea to implement for the Bears the high-powered scheme employed by Martz in St. Louis and Dick Vermeil in Kansas City.
Shea, 57, has been on Vermeil’s staff for the past three seasons and once was Bill Walsh’s offensive coordinator at Stanford. He also has been a college head coach at San Jose State, where he coached Jeff Garcia of the 49ers, and at Rutgers, where he coached Mike McMahon of the Lions.
Known for his knack with quarterbacks, Shea received credit this season for maximizing the production of Chiefs All-Pro quarterback Trent Green.
On Tuesday, Smith identified Bears quarterback Rex Grossman as the key to success in Chicago and expressed the need to hire an offensive coordinator familiar with the Rams’ system. A league source said Rams offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild, thought to be on Smith’s list of candidates, told a colleague Wednesday that St. Louis wouldn’t let him out of his contract even if he had wanted.
The rest of the Smith’s staff figures to be a mixture of old friends and Bears holdovers. The Rams announced Wednesday that they had renewed the contracts of eight assistant coaches, and only special-teams coach Bobby April was not brought back and is on the market.
When Smith gets introduced Thursday afternoon, he will arrive at the destination of a long, meaningful journey fueled by determination.
His graduating class at Big Sandy High had 34 students, but Smith vowed to work his way to bigger and better things. Smith says being raised by an alcoholic father who still supported the family taught him how to deal with the unpredictability of life and his profession, and he credits his mother for preaching perseverance.
Smith spent summer days in the sweltering Texas heat working on farms and spent autumn evenings shining under the “Friday night lights.” He was a hard-working tight end on a Big Sandy High team that set a national record for scoring 820 points in a season and won 42 games in a row.
It earned him a scholarship to play football at the University of Tulsa, the school Smith once credited for making every accomplishment in his life possible.
He may consider none greater than the one he accomplished Wednesday.
“He has been up for a lot of jobs like this, and wasn’t getting them, but I kept saying to him, `Lovie, you’re going to be a head coach,”‘ his mother recalled. “Last year, he finally said to me, `Mother, I believe you.”‘
Filling out the staff
David Haugh sizes up Lovie Smith’s top selections as coordinators:
Offense: Terry Shea
More Top Picks Best Large Print Crossword Books For Seniors
Current job: Chiefs’ quarterbacks coach (3 yrs.).
The skinny: Shea, 57, led Kansas City to first in scoring offense, second in passing and total offense, 15th in rushing. Has 34 years of coaching experience, primarily in college. Learned under Bill Walsh at Stanford. Tutored QBs such as Jeff Garcia and Mike McMahon. Won Big West in both years as head coach at San Jose State (1990-91) and was Big East coach of year at Rutgers (1998).
Defense: Greg Blache
Current job: Bears’ defensive coordinator (5 yrs.).
The skinny: Smith’s top choice if Blache doesn’t get another job. The 16-year NFL veteran has gotten serious head-coaching consideration since ’98. Bears have forced 137 turnovers under Blache; 14th in team defense this season. In 2001-02, his defense had 33 games forcing at least one turnover. Second choice would be Larry Marmie, Arizona’s defensive coordinator.
Days and confused
Tribune staff reporter Terry Bannon looks at the Bears’ long process of finding a new coach:
DEC. 29
General manager Jerry Angelo fires Dick Jauron, says he has six to eight candidates to replace him. Angelo identifies improving the offense as a priority. LSU coach Nick Saban, a friend of Angelo’s for 25 years, is considered the leading candidate.
DEC. 30
Two defensive coordinators, Lovie Smith of the Rams and Romeo Crennel of the Patriots, are scheduled for first interviews. Their teams are in the playoffs, but under NFL rules they can interview during their teams’ bye weeks.
DEC. 31
Angelo interviews Crennel in the Boston area. San Francisco defensive coordinator Jim Mora emerges as a candidate.
JAN. 1
Bears Hall of Famer Mike Singletary, the Baltimore Ravens’ linebackers coach, expresses interest in the job. However, the Raven in whom Angelo is interested is Singletary’s boss, defensive coordinator Mike Nolan.
JAN. 2
Angelo interviews Smith in the St. Louis area (Smith also interviews with Falcons, Giants and Bills during the bye week). Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz acknowledges only that “more than one” NFL team has contacted him. Bears ask Mora to move up his interview by one day to Jan. 5. Mora is also talking to the Falcons.
JAN. 3
Jauron’s name emerging as a candidate for the Buffalo Bills’ job.
JAN. 4
Ferentz says he plans to stay at Iowa. Saban’s LSU team wins Sugar Bowl and a share of the national championship.
JAN. 5
Angelo interviews Mora in San Francisco.
JAN. 6
Angelo and Mora watch East-West Shrine game practices together in San Francisco. Angelo says Mora interviewed “very well.” Former Jacksonville coach Tom Coughlin named coach of the New York Giants.
JAN. 7
More jobs fill up: Redskins bring back Joe Gibbs, and the Cardinals hire former Vikings coach Dennis Green. Neither was on the Bears’ list of candidates. Bears see Mora as their backup to Saban.
JAN. 8
With Bears courting Saban, Mora agrees to take Atlanta job. With Buffalo and Oakland the only other NFL jobs left, Saban’s choices narrow to Bears vs. LSU. Bears postpone interview with Nolan, and Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen tells Bears he’s staying at Maryland. Meanwhile, at an awards banquet in Phoenix, Saban says he hasn’t decided whether to interview with the Bears.
JAN. 9
Angelo and Saban meet for nine hours in Baton Rouge, La. Saban is mulling LSU’s $3 million per year vs. the Bears’ estimated $3.5 million per year offer. They discuss control of the 53-man roster, which Angelo wants to keep, and the hiring of assistant coaches, on which Angelo was reportedly willing to compromise. Saban meets with his players, but only to do postseason evaluations. Saban decides to sleep on his decision. Bears get permission from Steelers to talk with Steelers offensive line coach Russ Grimm.
JAN. 10
Around noon, Saban calls LSU Chancellor Mark Emmert and athletic director Skip Bertman to say he’s staying. He makes the announcement at a hastily called afternoon press conference. A few hours later, Rams lose to Carolina Panthers in NFC semifinals, making Lovie Smith eligible to be hired at any time. University of California coach Jeff Tedford, who had interviewed with Angelo in San Francisco the previous week, turns down the Bears.
JAN. 11
Nolan withdraws his candidacy after his interview was postponed twice.
JAN. 12
Grimm visits Halas Hall to interview and holds a press conference, saying he was “shocked” the Bears called.
JAN. 13
More Top Picks Best Hedge Trimmers
Smith visits Halas Hall to interview and repeatedly uses the word “we” when talking about the Bears. Angelo says he did not hire former Giants head coach Jim Fassel because he had just been fired after a 4-12 season. Angelo says he’s considering an un-identified third candidate, in addition to Grimm and Smith. Steelers offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey, who was not a candidate for the Bears’ job, agrees to take Buffalo job, leaving only Bears and Raiders without coaches.
JAN. 14
Smith is named the first African-American coach in Bears history.
baiduhai